Short History of the T-34, Part 1.5
Very much disappointed in imgur, I migrated to another site with the T-34 album. The first part will remain on imgur, but it will no longer be updated. Imgur has a plague of issues. Not only is it moody as hell, but recently it shot itself in the foot in regard to album management. Still, that's not what's making me move the album. The big issues are that it's a pain to edit with, it's impossible to do a search through the whole album, and when I started work on the second part, I realized that some chucks of the first part were missing on imgur. Thank God I keep a backup. Goodbye, Imgur, and good riddance. Clarifications and Corrections The T-34 at the Museé Des Blindés in Saumur, upon further inspection of the pics and checking of other sources, appears to be a Model 1941 rather than a Model 1941/1942 STZ. What tipped me off was the normal gun mantlet, as opposed to the simplified one build at STZ. For more pictures, visit peachmountain.com. Capture.PNG|T-34 at the Museé Des Blindés in Saumur Handler.jpg|T-34 at the Museé Des Blindés in Saumur le-char-t-34-76_f6b20b300e2a15ffdcdae520a35b53a4.jpg|T-34 at the Museé Des Blindés in Saumur The T-34 at Muzeum Wojska Polskiego also appears to be a Model 1942, rather than a Model 1941. The differences between the two models is difficult to notice. Unlike the STZ model and its unique gun mantlet, distinguishing the T-34/76B from the C can only be done by diving into the minute details. For more pictures of this particular T-34, visit this blog. 2925.jpg|T-34/76 with cast turret, from Muzeum Wojska Polskiego, Powiśle, Poland. czolg-sredni-t-34-model-1942-z-1-brygady-pancernej-im-bohaterow-westerplatte,133,duzy.jpg|T-34/76 with cast turret, from Muzeum Wojska Polskiego, Powiśle, Poland. The transition from one model to the other was gradual and many older models were upgraded. A good example is the T-34 showed below. Michulec notes that it has the 1941 turret with modified handrails that normally would appear after mid 1942, a STZ hull with rounded rear and rear interlocking plates and a complete set of steel road wheels. Regarding the transmission access hatch on the back of the hull, Anthony Tucker-Jones' 2015 book said it was square on the initial T-34/76A (Model 1940) and on some T-34/76Bs (Model 1941), but round on all subsequent variants, including the T-34/85 and tank destroyers. Other sources say that the round hatch was new to the T-34/76C (Model 1942). The T-34 at the Great Patriotic War Museum has a round hatch, while the one at the Aberdeen Proving Ground has a rectangular one, but while the APG T-34 is definitely a M1941, the other might actually be a M1942. T-34 76 1941 040 of 158.jpg|T-34 673 at APG T-34 Model 1941 in the Great Patriotic War Museum 5-jun-2014 Side.jpg|T-34 at the Great Patriotic War Museum T-34 Model 1941 in the Great Patriotic War Museum 5-jun-2014 Rear.jpg|T-34 at the Great Patriotic War Museum In any case, there are numerous small details in the hull between factories even for the same models. I've tried to cover some of them as best as I could, but the best way to differentiate between the main variants remains the turret. If you really want read about all the minute details, I recommend Robert Michulec's T-34 Mythical Weapon. The T-34-76s at Aberdeen T-34 APG 1.jpg|673 T-34 APG 6.jpg|673 T-34 APG 2.jpg|673 T-34 APG 3.jpg|674 T-34 APG 4.jpg|674 T-34 APG 5.jpg|674 Aberdeen Proving Ground has two T-34-76s, numbered 674 and 674. 673 has numerous pictures from all angles floating around the web. The gallery above uses pictures from preservedtanks.com, taken in July, 1983. Pictures around from 2007 show that the tanks look quite different presently. I found three places with pictures of 673, one of which (Prime Portal) I have used in the previous part. The other two are Wiliammaloney.com and svsm.org.